Chapter 18
Although not as direct as Zion Obek, who could instantly make opponents lose their will to fight, Eileen's ability to cause psychological panic among intermediate mages Aiyia and Wakaka indicates that she is at least one level higher than them.
In other words, Senior Eileen should have reached the level to graduate early.
But she continues to stay at our school, claiming that her level is insufficient.
Why is that?
It can't be that she is pretending to be weak and acting strong to surprise us...
There must be a reason why she has to stay in the school.
...
Is it because of Emile?
In Emile's memory, a large part of her life so far has been wasted in this school, as she is officially a low-ranking staff member of the School of Balancing. And Damia seems to have strict requirements for Emile's annual working hours, so she often brings Emile, who wanders around the world, back to work.
For example, doing tasks like library management.
Ah... so Emile's random knowledge comes from the library.
No, if Emile grew up accompanied by the books of the School of Balancing... then...
How many erotica books do you have hidden in the library, Lady Damia, to make her like this?
Ahem, now is not the time to think about Damia's education methods.
In other words, the only reason Eileen does all this is simply to let herself stay at the School of Balancing, the only place that can make Emile stop.
She won the previous competition, but the reward she wanted was just to have her inventions used by Emile.
She gave up her talent and reputation, willingly becoming a repeat student despised by others.
Why is that?
I gaze at Eileen's cheek, furrowing my brow.
After all, with the mental link, if Eileen has left any impression on Emile, I should be able to find it, but there is no such record.
I've known for a long time that Emile is generally indifferent to things other than herself, but for Eileen to go to such lengths, there should be something left behind.
To defeat Eileen, I must find the connection between Emile and her. Otherwise, even with the magic link, it would be difficult for me to cast intermediate magic without Emile by my side.
Eileen seems to have sensed my tension and smiles slightly at me—
"In the end, winning or losing this match means nothing to me."
"... What do you mean?"
She ignores me and turns her head to the MC, Alaba, nodding at him.
All eyes in the audience are now focused on the arena.
This is the second match of the top four, the last match before the finals. Even those who haven't been paying much attention to the competition are now interested because, after all, everyone wants to know who will obtain the promise of Principal Damia.
Just like the last match between Diana and Ogasugasan, they start by tossing a coin to determine who serves.
Senior Rarba places the coin on his thumb and flicks it lightly—
"Clatter, clatter—"
The silver coin seems to rotate endlessly on the table.
...
Suddenly, I have a bad feeling in my heart.
—No, I can't let Eileen serve.
If Eileen serves, things will develop in an irreversible direction.
The speed of the coin starts to slow down.
"Clatter, clatter—"
—No, absolutely not.
I'm almost about to reach out for the coin.
No, I've already reached out.
Just then, my gaze is forced to lift, and it meets the senior's eyes, almost as if it was intentional.There was no joy in her eyes, she was only looking at me.
It was as if she was saying, "It's useless, even if I don't serve first, it doesn't matter."
The coin finally came to a stop.
"Click -"
The face up revealed a lotus flower.
Senior Lao Ba raised his hand and announced -
"The White Lotus team serves."
————————————————————————
"Cough... "
I lightly tapped my chest, feeling confused about my actions just now.
It's just a matter of serving first or serving second, why am I so nervous?
All I have to do is face it properly next, even though my magic level is far from enough, but after all, table tennis is the game I brought, I don't think I have no chance of winning at all.
Yes, as long as I face it properly...
After receiving the ball, Senior Eileen didn't make any unnecessary movements, she just took a deep breath and raised her racket slowly-
In that instant, everything I saw seemed to slow down.
The weight of the ball was as if it had decreased by half, rising and falling slowly.
Senior Alba's mouth opened and closed slowly, but I didn't hear any sound.
The net in the middle of the table swayed slightly with the wind.
The only thing normal was the racket in Senior Eileen's palm.
Hitting the ball with an ordinary speed, like the appearance of a middle school student who is slightly familiar with ping pong.
With a ball like this, I can easily...
There was a huge sound when the ball hit the racket-
Indescribable hugeness, a size that had never existed before
There was suddenly a sense of emptiness in my ears, and almost everything in front of me turned blank, leaving only the vague figure of Senior Eileen.
Like the effect often used in movie theaters, the sound suddenly increased and then stopped, creating a temporary deafness effect.
This was genuine temporary deafness.
No, no matter how you think about it, this is too unreasonable. Senior Eileen didn't use magic, and this is the only thing I can be completely sure of.
How is it possible to achieve this level with pure strength alone.
"I admire your awareness that you can't let me serve, Molly Ann."
Unable to fully open my eyes, still in a daze, but Senior Eileen's voice accurately reached my mind.
"But no matter what, this is the only step that you can't avoid."
Finally, I belatedly opened my eyes.
In front of me was not the competition venue, there was no table tennis table, just a gray-white space, and Senior Eileen herself.
She had her back to me, lazily sitting on the ground.
"What is this place?"
"For me, things like competitions don't matter at all. Didn't I say that before?"
"......?"
"After discovering that we suddenly disappeared, they must be in a panic, right? Unfortunately, I really don't like crowded places."
"......"
"Now no one will disturb us anymore, so let's officially begin."
"Sister Eileen...?"
"I've said it before, it's a duel."
"I will be here, in this world that belongs to me," Senior Eileen turned around and shook her black hair, "totally defeat you."
